Serves 4

Ingredients are all available in the farm shop

If you are entertaining over the next few weeks why not embrace pumpkin season and impress your friends with this delicious pumpkin risotto?

 Ingredients

 Risotto

• 1.1 litres chicken stock (or vegetable for a vegetarian recipe)
• 100g butter
• 2 tablespoons olive oil
• 1 medium pumpkin
• 2 small dried chillies
• 1 large onion, finely chopped
• 2 cloves garlic, finely chopped
• ½ head celery, finely chopped
• 350 g risotto rice
• 2 glasses dry white wine
• sea salt
• freshly ground black pepper
• 100g Parmesan cheese, freshly grated
• Optional: 12 pancetta slices or lardons to garnish (crisped up in frying pan), sage leaves (cooked in butter until crisp)

 Pumpkin seed pesto

• 1 garlic clove
• 50 g pumpkin seeds (or use those from pumpkin)
• 25g flat leaf parsley
• 25g grated parmesan
• pinch sea salt
• 100ml extra virgin olive oil

Method

1. Preheat your oven to 190°C/375°F/gas 5. Carefully cut up your pumpkin and scoop out the seeds. Put these to one side. Cut the pumpkin lengthways into 1cm slices. Season the slices with sea salt, pepper and crushed dried chillies along with a tablespoon of olive oil. Toss around until completely coated. Line up snugly in a roasting tray and bake for around 30- 45 minutes until the flesh and skin are soft to the touch. Roughly chop until mushy or use a roast processor to create a puree. I like to use around three quarters to create a smooth puree and leave a quarter in chunks to add into the risotto at the end.
2. Whilst the pumpkin is roasting prepare the ingredients for your basic risotto. Dice the onions and the celery and crush the garlic. Heat up the chicken stock.
3. Place the pumpkin seeds on a baking tray and toss in a little olive oil. Roast in the oven for 5-10 minutes or until lightly browned and crisp. Then use to prepare the pumpkin seed pesto by placing in a food processor with the other pesto ingredients, adding the olive oil gradually with the motor running.
4. Soften onions, celery and garlic with some butter in a shallow pan. Sweat gently, do not allow to colour. Add the risotto rice and stir until coated in butter. Add the white wine, increase the heat slightly and cook until absorbed. Gradually add the stock, stirring all the time and ensuring it is fully absorbed between each addition. About half way through the process (whilst the rice is still slightly hard) stir through the pumpkin puree.
5. When the risotto rice has reached the correct consistency take the pan off the heat. Add the reserved pumpkin chunks. Stir through the grated parmesan. Taste for seasoning (use lemon juice and salt to season) and a knob of butter.
6. Serve topped with blobs of pumpkin seed pesto and crispy lardons and sage leaves if you wish.